The embodiments of the present invention generally relate to lighting systems that are digitally controlled and to the lighting fixtures used therein, in particular multiparameter lighting fixtures having one or more image projection lighting parameters.
Lighting systems are typically formed by interconnecting, via a communications system, a plurality of lighting fixtures and providing for operator control of the plurality of lighting fixtures from a central controller. Such lighting systems may contain multiparameter lighting fixtures, which illustratively are lighting fixtures having two or more individually remotely adjustable parameters such as focus, color, image, position, or other light characteristics. Multiparameter lighting fixtures are widely used in the lighting industry because they facilitate significant reductions in overall lighting system size and permit dynamic changes to the final lighting effect. Applications and events in which multiparameter lighting fixtures are used to great advantage include showrooms, television lighting, stage lighting, architectural lighting, live concerts, and theme parks. Illustrative multi-parameter lighting devices are described in the product brochure entitled “The High End Systems Product Line 2001” and are available from High End Systems, Inc. of Austin, Tex.
A variety of different types of multiparameter lighting fixtures are available. One type of advanced multiparameter lighting fixture, which is referred to herein as an image projection lighting device (“IPLD”), uses a light valve or light valves to project images onto a stage or other projection surface. A light valve, which is also known as an image gate, is a device, such as a digital micro-mirror (“DMD”) or a liquid crystal display (“LCD”) that forms the image that is to be projected. Other types of light valves that may also be used are liquid crystal on silicone (LCOS) or microelectromechanical systems (MEMs). The light valve's pixels are electronically controlled to form an image by setting the pixels of the light valve to transmit or block light from the lamp of the IPLD.
United States patent application titled “METHOD AND APPARTUS FOR CONTROLLING IMAGES WITH IMAGE PROJECTION LIGHTING DEVICES”, inventor Richard S. Belliveau, Ser. No. 10/206,162, filed on Jul. 26, 2002, incorporated by reference herein, describes a central controller incorporating an image editor for use with a plurality of image projection lighting devices.
In their common application, IPLDs are used to project their images upon a stage or other projection surface. Control of the IPLDs is affected by an operator using a central controller that may be located several hundred feet away from the projection surface. In a given application, there may be hundreds of IPLDs used to illuminate the projection surface, with each IPLD having many parameters that may be adjusted to create a scene.
Programming a show on a central controller for a plurality of IPLDs can be very time consuming for an operator. For example a show using thirty or more IPLDs may be constructed by an operator of a central controller of a hundred or more scenes. A scene is programmed by adjusting the many parameters of each of the IPLDs. For each IPLD pan, tilt, selectable image, image rotate, zoom, focus, color and effects may each need to be adjusted.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,057,958, issued May 2, 2000 to Hunt, incorporated herein by reference, discloses a pixel based gobo record control format for storing gobo images in the memory of a light fixture. The gobo images can be recalled and modified from commands sent by a control console. A pixel based gobo image is a gobo (or an image) created by a light valve like a video projection of sorts. A default gobo may have its characteristics modified by changing the characteristics of the matrix and hence, shifting that default gobo in different ways. The matrix operations, which are described, include scaling the gobo, rotation, iris, edge, strobe and dimmer. Hunt discloses, “Other matrix operations are possible. Each of these matrix operations takes the default gobo and does something to it.”
U.S. Pat. No. 5,829,868, issued Nov. 3, 1998 to Hutton, incorporated by reference herein, discloses storing video frames as cues locally in a lamp, and supplying them as directed to the image gate to produce animated and real-time imaging. A single frame can also be manipulated through processing to produce multiple variations. Alternatively, a video communication link can be employed to supply continuous video from a remote source.
One example of a prior art image projection lighting device is the Catalyst (trademarked) system available from High End Systems, Inc. of Austin, Tex., and is described in the Catalyst (trademarked) system brochure incorporated herein by reference. The Catalyst (trademarked) image projection lighting device incorporates a video projector with a moveable mirror system that directs the images projected by the projector onto the stage or projection surface. A personal computer is used as a server that provides the images to the projector for projection onto the stage or projection surface. An operator of a central controller sends command signals over a communication system to the Catalyst (trademarked) server to control the selection of images contained at the server. The selected image is then sent by the server to be projected by the video projector. An operator of the central controller may also control various effects that can be applied to the selected image. For example, the Catalyst (trademarked) server may modify the selected image by electronically rotating the orientation of the image before sending the image to the projector to be projected upon the projection surface. Some examples of the types of modifications to the selected image are image rotate, negative image, image strobe, image zoom, RGB (red, green and blue) control and wobble. The different types of modifications of the selected image used to produce the final projected images can be referred to as “effects”. An operator of the central controller can send effects commands to the Catalyst (trademarked) image server over the communication system to adjust or select the effects that modify the selected image to produce a final image that is projected onto the projection surface.
The images stored in the Catalyst (trademarked) server are stored electronically as image data in the memory of the server. When an image is selected by an operator of the central controller the central controller sends the appropriate command to the server to command the selected image to be projected by the video projector. A multicolored image projected on a projection surface is comprised of several separate colored images formed by a plurality of light valves. The image data contains data components for operation of each or the separate colored images. A first light valve is used to form the red separate colored image; a second light valve is used to form the green separate colored image and a third light valve is used to form the blue separate colored image. The three separate colored images of red, green and blue (referred to as RGB) are then combined optically and projected as a multicolored image onto the projection surface.
Image data may reside in the memory of an IPLD or the image data may be sent from a central controller over the communications system to be received by a communications port of an IPLD and then projected onto a projection surface. United States patent application titled “Method, apparatus and system for image projection lighting”, inventor Richard S. Belliveau, publication no. 20020093296, Ser. No. 10/090,926, filed on Mar. 4, 2002, incorporated by reference herein, describes communications systems that allow image content, such as in the form of digital data, to be transferred from a central controller to a plurality of IPLDS. The images may be still images or animated images.
Images may be projected from the IPLD onto a projection surface such a screen or the stage itself. Images may also be projected by the IPLD onto airborne particulate created by a theatrical fog or smoke machines. The airborne particulate creates a fog or haze and the image projected upon the airborne particulate is seen by the audience as suspended in air. The images that are projected onto airborne particulate are often referred to as aerial images. The images that are projected as aerials can be specially conceived so that the optimum balance of colored, white and dark areas provide the most pleasing and effective aerial projections from the audience perspective.
Images used for projection on a projection surface or for aerials can be stored in a memory electronically. The memory may reside in the IPLD, or the central controller. There is a limit to the number of images that may be available to the operator of the lighting system that resides in the memory and it is an advantage to easily create a second image from a first image data. Creating second images from a first image data allows the operator of the lighting system a greater range of creativity when programming a lighting show by providing a wider range of available images.